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Comment by L_226 | Hacker News Reader

I have found this with myself - in uni ~7 years ago I was pretty into powerlifting (around 120kg squat, 120kg bench, 170kg deadlift at 184cm/81kg). Now as I go through on and off periods of training due to life etc. I find that it is relatively quick and easy for me to get back into decent shape. Like 2 weeks of training after even months of eating poorly and drinking too much is enough to get good muscle definition back and my strength goes back to probably 80% of my youthful peak. Obviously this is anecdata, YMMV.

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that's not soley because of the epigenetic muscle memory:

1. you also already have the basics of lifting technique down - it takes some time to learn to squat properly.

2. you are comfortable with going to the gym and getting into the lifts straight away instead of spending the first few months on the treadmill.

3. you're probably knowledgeable about programs and the need for progression.

this is all in addition to the epigenetic muscle memory.

These are valid points. I should also say that I rarely go to the gym anymore, as I far prefer swimming and running at the moment. I don't even have a current gym membership (first time in over ten years!).

I remember one bodybuilder/trainer said it's easy to lose weight. He dieted poorly, became fat, then was able to quickly reagin his good shape in a month, so he "proved" it's easy. This looks like he just proved that it's easy if you were already in good shape.

Fit to Fat and Back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew7g7AqGqzo

Yeah, my anecdata matches yours. I didn't start lifting until I read all the nerdy rave reviews of Starting Strength on this very website (circa 2012 maybe), and bought the book and tried it.

I was already in my late 30s, but in about a year, I doubled my strength on barbell squat, bench press, and deadlift. (Almost any beginner/novice can do this, BTW!)

But, it was a slog. I failed a lot, often repeatedly, before I could complete all my sets and advance to a higher weight. So the progression was slow.

Then we had a second kid and that was that — no time for lifting for a while! Like almost 2 years. And I did revert to a weaker version of myself (still 50% stronger than I was originally, though). But when I finally got back to it, I got back to 90% of my peak in maybe 6-8 weeks.

That same story repeated after we had a third kid.

Well, n=2 (at least, HN?)

...and the opposite curse applies to people who had fully couch-potato sedentary lifestyles in youth and want to work themselves into shape in their 30s ...it sucks :| Realizing that you might need to put 12+ months of continuous boring excruciating exercise to get what others can get with 1-2 moths of training only.

Wish there was a pill to solve this for us (phisically-)lazy ones...

You're just doing the same work then as those others put in the first time around.

Luckily only the first few weeks are boring and excruciating, then your body starts responding and it actually starts to feel good.

> Luckily

...nope, I'm one of those humans miss-programmed to secrete dopamine and endorphines when slumping in a chair coding and eating chips, and to feel depressed to death when doing physical effort. For those other 99% of humans programmed with the normal response to physical effort that you describe: you don't know how lucky you are! (Anyhow, will carry on, ugly body + diabetes + heart-attack and/or stroke at 50 still sounds a bit worse than working out a bit feels :P ...still on the look for some pharmaceutical "cheat codes" though, there's gotta be some 0-days in the human body/mind that we can hack to get to avoid that work, though maybe risk/benefit might not be worth it here)

Damn, that sucks. :/ I only feel horrible for the first few weeks of regular exercise before I start getting that "workout buzz" instead of the "workout kill-me-now".

Has an actual doctor diagnosed your condition? I think this qualifies as something worthy of one of those "a case report" publications.

Yes, I do intend to challenge your position, but I mean no offense. Maybe the problem is not slumping nor coding, but the chips. The first step to fixing health, be it physical or mental, is fixing one's diet.

In their defense, they never claimed a diagnosed condition, only subjective discomfort. And when you live to eat chips on the couch playing games, movement DOES feel crap and good food DOES feel crap and it takes a long while to retrain your body for the new endorphins instead of the old ones.

What sports/efforts have you tried?

Are you diagnosed with a condition? If not, it sounds like your problem is psychological.

i started lifting at the age of 30. starting age is not that much of a factor (i.e. now, at 37, my lifting numbers partially exceed those of OP at 10kg less bodyweight). it does limit the performance ceiling you'll be able to reach, but this is probably a lot further than you'll be willing to go anyway. which isn't even completely true; there are winners in the olympic weightlifting masters division who didn't start lifting until late in life.

the biggest difference is, most likely, the amount of time you'll be able to spend in the gym and it might take you a little longer to get started properly as you'll probably have limiting deficiencies in mobility at first. but this is still negligible; one or two months really don't matter much if you plan to lift for the rest of your life. only being able to lift twice a week will still do wonders for your health, looks and wellbeing.

i can get in shape quickly now, but at first it took me 12+ months to get the technique down and it would have taken me 12+ months if i had started at 18 (which is not entirely accurate - there is not specific point where you'll finally "got it").

Nope, it’s not like you think.

You can start weight lifting, following a “Russian strength” program (just three exercises, heavier weight, small sets of 3-5 reps), and the experience noticeable changes within 4 weeks. And I’m not talking about a lot of time at the gym... perhaps 2-3 hours total of exercise per week.

Not only will you get strong, you will start burning more calories when you’re not even moving. Plus, you’ll feel more energy and more drive/discipline to eat better and go back to the gym. In fact, a common problem is wanting to go to the gym too often. (The older you get, the more recovery time needed between workouts... more workouts can actually be detrimental.).

> And I’m not talking about a lot of time at the gym... perhaps 2-3 hours total of exercise per week.

And if you only have time to go to the gym once a week you can make visible progress in that much time. Three sets of five reps of squat, bench and deadlift is doable in 50 minutes and if you do it consistently once a week you’ll see steady progress for most of a year.

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